The 16th annual Epson International Pano Awards has announced its winners, crowning Italian fine-art landscape photographer Alex Wides (Alessandro Cantarelli) as the 2025 Open Photographer of the Year. Wides, known globally for his pioneering work in extreme panoramic landscapes, also claimed first place in the Nature/Landscape category with his breathtaking submissions.
Wides' winning entry, titled "Last Fireworks," captures a spectacular desert sunset where layers of clouds create a dramatic explosion of fire and gold across the sky. The photographer used a Sony A7 IV camera with a fisheye lens mounted on a tripod, shooting at f/8 and ISO 100. He carefully rotated around the nodal point to create a seamless 360-degree panorama through a full multi-exposure sequence. "As the sun went down, the sky literally exploded. Layer after layer of clouds lit up, painting the desert with fire and gold," Wides described.
Another standout piece from Wides, "Jackpot," showcases the Northern Lights over Senja Island in Norway. After completing photography tours on the island, Wides hiked to his shooting location hoping for favorable weather conditions. "When I opened the tent on the last try, I hit the jackpot: the sky exploded in a spectacular half hour of Northern Lights. This was a perfect reward after years of waiting," he explained. His third featured work, "Mann," demonstrates his fascination with lunar light revealing snow textures and wind patterns. Working through the night in minus 15 degrees Celsius conditions, he used a Sony A6600 with a fisheye lens at 10mm, f/5.6, 10 seconds, and ISO 1250 to build a 270-degree panorama in freezing winds.
The Epson Digital Art Prize, selected by Epson Australia's executive team from the top 50 Open competition entries, went to Daniel Viñé from Spain. His winning photograph captures Vietnamese coastal village women working in morning shade and salt-laden air as they mend fishing nets. "In this coastal village of Vietnam, survival is woven in silence. These women, working in morning shade and salt-laden air, are the unseen guardians of sustenance. The nets they mend are not mere tools, but lifelines binding sea and community together," Viñé commented. He also won the RAW Planet Award for "Cathedral of Shadows," photographed in Hanksville, Utah, describing it as "witnessing a fleeting alignment of light and form revealing the sun blazing on one side, the vast shadow stretching on the other, and the raw, timeless silence of Utah in between."
William Chua from Singapore earned the Pano Awards Southeast Asia Open Photographer of the Year 2025 title with his wildlife migration photograph. His image captures a lone wildebeest turning back amid the frenzy of the great migration. "I have witnessed the wildebeest migration countless times and it never ceases to amaze me. For this image, what caught my attention was a lone wildebeest turning back amidst the frenzy. In that instant, I knew that was the shot I wanted," Chua said.
Kevin Nyun from the United States claimed both the Amateur Photographer of the Year award and first place in the amateur Nature/Landscape category with three compelling entries: "The Altiplano Landscape," "Frozen," and "Remnants." His Altiplano Landscape photograph was captured in the Bolivian highlands, showcasing the dramatic terrain of this high-altitude plateau region.
The VR/360 category winner was Christoph Simon from Germany, whose panoramic photograph was taken during a freezing March night in the high-temperature geothermal region of Hverarönd in northern Iceland. Meanwhile, the Curator's Award, presented by competition curator David Evans, went to Chris Byrne from the United States for his work titled "ELYSIUM."
This year's competition featured several notable trends, according to organizers. There was a significant increase in ultra-wide panoramas and increasingly innovative perspectives, including very low shooting angles, extreme close-up subjects, and aerial photography. The competition also saw far more Northern Lights photographs than in previous years, coinciding with the current 11-year solar cycle maximum that has produced enhanced aurora activity.
Craig Heckenberg, Managing Director of Epson Australia, praised this year's entries for their exceptional creativity. "The Pano Awards entries are always exceptional and this year the creativity has truly been taken to the next level," he stated. "It's great to see so many more wide and ultra-wide panoramic shots this year, a format close to our hearts, as they are able to be truly and properly represented by Epson wide-format photo printers." Participants competed for thousands of dollars in cash prizes and hardware awards from main sponsors Epson Australia and Epson Southeast Asia.
